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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25620541">He is all and he is more</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bichaelmanes/pseuds/bichaelmanes'>bichaelmanes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Immortal Husbands fics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, mess with joe and be prepared for death, more testing, nicky is more protective than joe headcanon.jpg, nicky is stonecold</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:55:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,295</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25620541</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bichaelmanes/pseuds/bichaelmanes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe gets taken. Nicky goes to get him.</p><p>Inspired by <a href="https://joeandnicky.tumblr.com/post/625030962485641217">this tumblr post</a>.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Immortal Husbands fics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866865</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>674</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>He is all and he is more</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm sorry if the Italian isn't quite right. Please feel free to correct me, because this is Google Translate Italian.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Joe sat back against the walls of his cell, schooling his expression into a relaxed, unimpressed expression. He felt blood trickle down the side of his face, even though the gash on his temple had healed nearly instantly. Within several years of the entire Merrick debacle, he was right back here again, trapped in a cage, not so much his life in danger as his sanity.</p><p>One good thing about this whole mess. Nicky hadn’t been with him for the whole affair, so at least his heart was safe. Joe could withstand anything as long as Nicky was safe.</p><p>“Mr. Al-Kaysani!” a voice echoed through his cell, and Joe looked up to see an awfully familiar face.</p><p>Joe barely let a grimace pass over his face before flashing his most charming smile. “Dr. Kozak, what an unexpected surprise!”</p><p>“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” Dr Kozak smiled. She looked older than she had back then, her blonde hair a little paler, slight worry lines around her eyes. She wasn’t aging well, Joe was pettishly pleased to see.</p><p>Joe showed all his teeth, in a move that could barely be called a smile. “A pleasure to have my DNA in your possession again, you mean.”</p><p>“Well, in so many words…”</p><p>Joe looked straight into her hard, cold face, and knew that she didn’t see him as fully human. To her, he was a Nobel prize, an opportunity. A lab rat. “I can’t say it’s a pleasure to see <em>you</em>, on the other hand,” Joe said matter-of-factly. “The last time we met isn’t the warmest of memories, I have to admit.” He propped his arm up on his knee and looked coolly into the doctor’s face.</p><p>“We need you, Mr. Al-Kaysani. The <em>world</em> needs you,” Dr Kozak said, her eyes suddenly glowing maniacally. “Your DNA might hold the key to end death, and suffering.”</p><p>“Death, maybe. But trust me, whatever is in my DNA, it won’t end suffering.” Joe gestured with his shackled hands to the blood drying on his face.</p><p>Dr. Kozak had the audacity to smile, forgetting that it had been <em>her</em> goons who’d did that (admittedly minor) damage to his face. “That’s what we’re here to find out, Mr. Al-Kaysani. I won’t apologize for scientific progress.”</p><p>“You really should study your history more. You’d know you are on the wrong side of it.”</p><p>Dr. Kozak blanched a little. “Take him,” she ordered, and immediately, Joe’s cell filled with several soldiers and with an eyeroll, Joe let himself be manhandled out of his cell. Just for his own savage pleasure, he headbutted one of the guys in the crotch. The punch he got in the stomach was a fine price to pay.</p><p>And then he was back again, in a place he loathed more than anything. A medical chair, strapped to it like a common criminal. He saw Dr. Kozak bring in several intense-looking medical devices and Joe knew it was going to be a long couple of days.</p><p>“Take a guy to dinner first, Dr. Kozak,” Joe said, his voice steady, but his flexing fingers betraying his nervousness. He kept his eyes on the instruments, as Dr. Kozak prepped a frighteningly long needle.</p><p>“Maybe after I’ve won the Nobel prize, Mr. Al-Kaysani,” Dr. Kozak murmured, right before she stuck the needle torturously slowly in his side. The pain exploded immediately, his entire body seizing up in protest, and he ground his teeth as he tried not to scream. Closing his eyes, he tried to picture Nicky’s face to drown out some of the pain. His nerves screamed as the needle kept sliding deeper into his body. The skin around the needle fought hard to close, increasing the pain. Nicky’s face flickered and faded, and as the pain reached its breaking point, he opened his mouth and screamed.</p><p>----</p><p>Nicky hadn’t told the others where he was going. He’d contacted Booker without any of their knowledge and asked him to help track down Joe. Dr. Kozak left a blazing trail to follow, and thus was easy to track. It only took Book an hour, an hour which ingratiated himself with Nicky considerably. Nicky was driving the fastest car he’d been able to jack, ignoring any and all speed limits and traffic lights. There was only one thing on his mind, and the world would bend to his will.</p><p>Nicky had always been extremely determined. Others would underestimate him for his smaller stature, his unassuming and unthreatening smile, and the fact that Joe always jumped in front of him with his bravery and violence. But harm his love and be prepared to lose everything. When it came to the people he loved, he was prepared to do anything. When it came to Joe, anything became a laughing matter.</p><p>Parking the car a street away, he jumped out and pulled out his sports bag. To anyone looking at him, he looked like an average man heading to the gym. But Nicky was heading to battle, his sword tucked underneath his jacket and his bag filled with an assortment of weaponry.</p><p>Nicky entered the building which he knew held Dr. Kozak’s new lab and approached the security desk. Without saying a word, he passed through the metal detector, which immediately blasted warnings. Two guards jumped up and approached him from both sides, their hands on their holsters. “Sir, put down the bag!” yelled one.</p><p>Breathing in and out once, Nicky centred himself. Then, in a flash, faster than the guards could blink, he drew his sword and with two quick swipes, dropped the first guard and pressed the second to the wall. He felt the blood spatter on the side of his face, but barely registered it as he breathed evenly while the other man panted. “Where is Dr. Kozak?” Nicky asked quietly.</p><p>“I don’t…”</p><p>“Listen to me very carefully. I have asked a question. I will not ask it again.”</p><p>The guard must’ve noticed something in Nicky’s eyes, because he turned very white and stuttered the answer. “D-downstairs. Minus 15<sup>th</sup> floor. P-please.”</p><p>“Much obliged,” Nicky said evenly, before slicing the man’s throat. He would feel guilty about it later. Sheathing his sword, he continued to the elevator, unzipping his bag, and unloading it on the elevator floor. After the doors closed, he pressed the stop button, forced the door open and braced it with his semi-automatic. He restarted the elevator, then picked up his explosives. At every floor he passed, he pressed two bricks on the outer doors, then pulled his semi-automatic free and shouldered his bag. The elevator dinged, he raised his gun in front of him, and ducked out of the way before the doors opened. When the world didn’t explode in gunfire, he locked the elevator doors in the open position and turned into the room beyond.</p><p>It was deserted. With methodical efficiency, Nicky moved through the floor, opening doors, and clearing rooms until he came to the very end of the hall, where a large, armoured door stood slightly ajar. Nicky smiled a half-smile, but it vanished quickly when a nearly inhuman scream erupted from beyond the door. Nicky knew immediately it was his Joe. His hair stood on end, and his entire being seemed to erupt with hellfire. Swearing under his breath, he rushed forward, opened the door, and went in with his gun raised.</p><p>It was an eerily familiar scene. A very sterile, white lab where several medical beds were stationed. Frightening instruments were spread around the lab, and there were already several medical jars with a worrying amount of samples.</p><p>Dr. Kozak was bent over one of the medical beds, and Nicky immediately saw his Joe was strapped to it. The screams were <em>unbearable</em>.</p><p>“Step away, Dr. Kozak,” Nicky said, his voice scarily steady, his gun trained on the aged doctor. With a start, she jumped backwards, extracting a long device from Joe’s thigh. Without even taking the time to recover, Joe raised his head and let out a throaty laugh when he saw Nicky.</p><p>“<em>Ti sei preso il tuo tempo,</em> <em>Nicolo</em>,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.</p><p>“<em>Scusami, amore</em>. We are short a tracker, so it took a little longer.”</p><p>“Mr. Di Genova,” Dr. Kozak said, her hands raising in the air, Joe’s blood still on her blue gloves. “I was hoping I’d see you again.”</p><p>“Nicky!” Joe yelled and Nicky immediately ducked down, narrowly avoiding getting shot in the head, instead taking one in the shoulder. Without hesitating one second, Nicky rolled onto his back and fired his gun at the soldiers storming the lab. It wasn’t a long fight at all. The soldiers hadn’t been well prepared.</p><p>“<em>Stai bene?</em>” Joe asked, and Nicky nodded, turning back to Dr. Kozak.</p><p>“Untie him,” he ordered. She looked slightly pale, but eyeing the gun trained straight between her eyes, she started to do what he ordered. “Who are you working for this time, doctor?”</p><p>Her fingers were shaking as she undid the straps around Joe’s legs. “Humanity,” she said. Both Joe and Nicky scoffed. “You gentlemen have a gift. You are keeping that gift from the world!” Before Joe was fully seated upright, she grabbed a scalpel and pressed it to his throat. “I can’t let you leave!”</p><p>Joe looked wholly unimpressed and Nicky loved him all the more in this moment. “For someone who is so focussed on our immortality, you forget awfully quick what immortality means.” And then he grabbed her arm, causing the scalpel to slip and slice a sizable cut into his throat. Nicky closed his eyes, after all this time still unable to watch Joe die. Dr. Kozak screamed when he dropped to the floor and Nicky immediately opened his eyes and put a bullet in her knee, causing her to crumple.</p><p>“You could’ve changed the world!” she moaned, as Nicky dropped his empty semi and pulled out his Barretta.</p><p>Nicky looked down at her as he trained the gun meticulously at her head. Remembering the wall in Copley’s house, he smiled a half-smile. “We already do.” And then he fired, ending Dr. Kozak’s life.</p><p>Without blinking at what he’d done, he immediately went down on his knees next to Joe. “<em>Yusuf, per favore, destati</em>,” Nicky whispered, grabbing his Joe by the should and turning him. With a sigh he noticed that his neck was already healing. “<em>Yusuf, mi amor…</em>”</p><p>Joe’s eyes fluttered, and his hand closed around Nicky’s bicep. Nicky let out a breath. “<em>Sono qui</em>,” Joe said, immediately collapsing into a coughing fit. Nicky helped him sit up. They touched their foreheads briefly. “Thank you, Nicky,” Joe said, with a smile as dazzling as the rising sun. Joe was always better at poetry, but watching his face now, Nicky could wax poetic about his Joe’s face for hours. Then his watch beeped. No time.</p><p>“Joe, we need to leave. Now.” Without further ado, he pulled Joe to his feet and handed him the Barretta, while he himself yanked a semi from one of the fallen soldiers.</p><p>“What did you do?” Joe asked as they quickly and quietly made their way across the floor towards the elevator.</p><p>Nicky didn’t answer, instead choosing to drop his bag to the floor and take out one final brick of explosive. Joe burst out laughing. “Holy shit, Nicky!”</p><p>Nicky merely flashed a grin, slammed the final brick on the wall next to the elevator door, flicked the stop button and then the elevator started to rise. “We have five minutes after the elevator doors open to get the hell away from this place.”</p><p>“Is the team here?”</p><p>“No,” Nicky said simply, and he saw Joe frown. “This was between me and Dr. Kozak,” he added with a fierce look in his eye that told Joe all he needed to know. Joe pressed a kiss to Nicky’s temple, which caused Nicky to smile. The elevator neared the ground floor and Nicky checked his watch. “Get ready to run, Joe.”</p><p>“As long as you’re right there with me,” Joe said, grabbing Nicky’s hand.</p><p>Nicky rolled his eyes affectionately, just as the elevator dinged. “You’re an incurable romantic.”</p><p>“It’s why you love me,” Joe said, as the door opened and revealed the two bodies Nicky had left behind. The two of them broke into a run, passing security, causing the metal detector to set off again, but they ignored it and kept running. They didn’t let go of each other until they were at the car, at which point Nicky’s watch beeped for a final time and the ground shook as the explosives inside the building went off. And kept going off. Nicky ignored it completely as he got in the diver’s seat, but Joe looked back in complete awe.</p><p>“Joe, get in!” Nicky shouted as he started the car.</p><p>Joe got in, a disbelieving smile on his face. “You rigged every floor?”</p><p>Nicky threw the car into gear and sped off, a look of complete calm on his face. “We cannot have any of that evidence remain untouched.”</p><p>Laughing wildly, letting out the adrenaline of the past few days, he leaned in to kiss Nicky square on the mouth, not caring about traffic and safety. “<em>God</em>, I love you,” he exclaimed, and Nicky laughed too, because it’s all he could do after having seen the love of his life killed in front of him once again and having walked out together once again.</p><p>“Next up, explaining this shit to Andy,” Nicky said after a while, startling Joe, who had been dozing off.</p><p>Joe grabbed Nicky’s hand, and settled back into the comfortable seat. “Good luck with that, darling.”</p><p>Nicky rolled his eyes with a fond smile. “Next time I’ll leave you where you are.”</p><p>“<em>Ma certo, Nicolo</em>.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Let me know what you think!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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